Where Growing Media Industry Will Go in a Post-Pandemic World
June 12, 2021 
Brian Jackson, Professor of Horticulture at North Carolina State University, recently presented a webinar for American Floral Endowment’s Grow Pro Webinar series.
In the webinar, Jackson discussed the current status and future plans for the growing media industry. Here are some takeaways from that webinar.
Challenges with COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges to the supply chain in horticulture. These are mainly due to the increase of at-home gardeners, labor shortages, and transportation issues.
With people having more free time on their hands, homeowners picked up gardening as a way to cope with the pandemic. This led to unprecedented demand for peat and other soilless media products, according to Jackson.
On top of the high demand came the issues of transportation. Domestic shipments of growing media faced labor and truck shortages, while international shipments had to contend with crate shortages and shipping delays, according to Jackson.
Selecting Growing Media
Picking a growing media is not all about choosing the cheapest product on the shelf, according to Jackson.
“Choose a supplier over a particular substrate,” Jackson says. “Don’t let the price be the sole or top decision-making factor.”
Jackson also recommended experimenting with new substrates as new soilless media comes to the market.
“Be aware and willing to modify production practices with new substrates,” Jackson says. “With growing demand and global shortage — order early and often.”
Peat Alternatives Both New and Old
The European Union has been working on imposing sanctions and restrictions on extracting peat from their natural habitats. This has sparked an interest in growers finding new alternatives for peat in order to be more sustainable.
“When it comes to sustainability, every product has an impact,” Jackson says. “The important part is how do we mitigate that.”
Wood products were brought up as a solution to the high demand.
“[Wood] is no longer a trend,” Jackson says. “It is vital to the future of growing media, but there are still a lot of unknowns, so ask questions, question suppliers, and follow the science.”
Other new products include:
- Hemp
- Miscanthus
- Palm Oil Fiber
- Jute
- Kenaf
- Fique
The Future of Growing Media
With the addition of new at-home gardeners and more crops being grown in soilless systems, demand will only go up.
“The global demand for soilless growing media is expected to double by 2050,” Jackson says. “More traditional field-grown crops are shifting to soilless production systems — further driving the demand. Supply and availability issues of many products will likely continue beyond 2021.”
This does not mean that these shortages will be the new norm forever, however.
“The growing media industry is advancing and evolving as much as any other industry in horticulture and will meet demands in the future,” Jackson says.
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